Nigeria is poised to generate more than N17billion annually from the implementation of International Cargo Tracking Note, CTN, on all imports into the country.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello, made this known at an interactive session with newsmen on Sunday, July 28.
President Muhammadu Buhari who endorsed the project had fixed November 3, 2015 as its implementation take off date. However, the implementation date had been suspended following stiff opposition by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and ship owners. Also the NSC also needed to fine tune the system to ensure it functions perfectly.
With the ICTN, cargoes in transit can be tracked from port of loading to port of discharge in terms of risk profiling of vessels, crew members, ports of call, mid-stream operations and cargo characteristics.
It is expected that the ICTN will check fraudulent declarations by importers and even ship owners on arrival at the ports.
Nigeria first introduced the CTN in 2009 under the NPA, but had to suspend its implementation because of the controversies that trailed it.
He said: “The ICTN like any other new thing was greeted with stiff opposition especially from MAN. We said we cannot introduce this unless MAN becomes satisfied because MAN is a very important statkeholder in the economy.
“As a matter of fact, MAN set up a committee and together with Shipping Association of NIgeria, we were invited to appear and at the end of it all, MAN was convinced that the CTN is a viable project.’’
He stated that the ICTN was being fine tuned to ensure that the desired results were achieved. He said the implementation of the ICTN would bring an end to the increasing incedence of under declaration of cargoes and concealments, which he said had denied the federal government of huge revenues.
